Football Results

Greece has defeated Lichtenstein away and then drew away with B-H, while Italy won two matches with a clean sheet at home. Both teams underperformed in the Nations League and they met the last time in 2008 when their friendly ended as 1-1 draw.

Greece

After underperforming in the Nations League where they won three and lost three matches, which was not enough for the first place, the Greeks started well this qualification. They didn’t play particularly well and they won Lichtenstein away by 2-0. Typically for the Greeks, they struggled at the beginning and they broke the resistance of the opponent only in the finish of the first half, while they scored the second goal ten minutes before the end.

Away match with B-H in the second round was a much bigger challenge and Greece seemed completely lost in first 25 minutes. They have received two goals and it can be said that they were lucky. It appeared in those moments that they might lose by sound goal difference but one of Bosnians was sent off in the second half and the Greeks sprung to life. They even managed to equalise and were close even to win, but that didn’t materialise. They were weakened with absence of stopper Manolasa, who is a starter now, but forward Mitroglou will again not be in the team.

Probable lineups Greece: Vlachodimos – Manolas, Sokratis, Siovas – Samaris, Kourbelis – Zeca, Masouras, Fortounis, Stafylidis – Donis

Italy

Italy didn’t exactly make a name for itself in the Nations League, where it won just one out of four matches. Portugal was more successful but it should be said that the crisis hit Italy much earlier, given fact that they didn’t qualify for the World Cup in Russia. It was a big blow and now they don’t want even to think about a new failure or not qualifying for the European Championshiop. They started well the qualifying cycle, but we shouldn’t forget that they played two matches at home with Finland and Lichtenstein, so those two wins were quite expected. They were afraid of Finland a bit but they managed to take a lead early on, which made it easier to play in the rest of match and in the end Italy routinely won by 2-0.

In the second round they steamrolled Lichtenstein by 6-0 with four goals scored in the first half. Veteran Quagliarella had scored two goals, young Kean was scorer just like against Finland, but it should be said that the Italians had for the entire second half a player more on the pitch. Now, this is a far more serious match and manager Mancini is facing problems. The first goalkeeper G. Donnarumma cannot play, while out of action are also Politano and Sponazzola, also because of injries. This means that Mancini needs to fill gaps, and Sirigu will be probably on the goal, Biraghi on the left flank and Bernardeschi in the midfield.

Probable lineups Italy: Sirigu – Piccini, Bonucci, Chiellini, Biraghi – Jorginho, Verratti, Barella – Bernardeschi, Insigne – Quagliarella

Verdict:

Greece didn’t make a name for itself in first two rounds but it is undefeated, which is confirmation of fact how tough and unpleasant opponent they can be. They certainly want to win the great rival at home, however, Italy plays better and better and wants to verify the first place in the group with victory in Athens.

Pick: 2 - Italy wins 1.94 - 94/100 @1XBet